what is the rush in getting it completed this week versus over the next couple of weeks??? Trying to impact its EPS calculation?
The exact timing of the remaining buyback within the current quarter is utterly immaterial from an EPS standpoint—do the math and you’ll see that it’s not even round-off error in an EPS calculation.
What could conceivably be the impetus for the timing of the buyback is the expiration date of employee stock options. If many rank-and-file employees have options that are on the verge of expiring (I do not know whether this is the case), the buyback might have been accelerated to push up the value of the employees’ options as a sort of cashless bonus. If such a scheme helps rank-and-file employees rather than senior management, it’s presumably legal, although it may be questionable.